A nation held hostage to the IMF’s fortune

If the terms and conditions of the rescue deal are too punitive, then Fine Gael would be right to resist pressure to act in the national interest

The IMF/EU team has factored in a budget with tax increases and spending cuts
It will be some time before we can measure the full impact of the historic
events which culminated in last Sunday’s official announcement that Ireland
had applied to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union
for financial assistance. But even before the ink is dry on the agreement it
seems the cost is unaffordable.

There is no denying that our creditworthiness has been destroyed by a cabal of
greedy insiders who took full advantage of lax regulations to engage in an
orgy of speculative lending that has set large parts of the economy back at
least 20 years in terms of its development. But if the Irish people are to
be hit with a punitive rate of interest on the rescue money now being
negotiated, we will have achieved nothing other than bequeathing a daunting
— and unfair — legacy to future generations.